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| An image of Korea's scenic countryside taken by photographer Jung Hae-chang sometime during the 1920s and '30s / Courtesy of Museum Hanmi |
By Park Han-sol
The Museum of Photography, Seoul, nestled within Hanmi Tower in the capital city's southeastern Songpa District, was founded in 2003 as the first institute dedicated to the art of photography in Korea.
In celebration of its upcoming 20th anniversary, the museum has been relocated to central Seoul's Samcheong-dong, a neighborhood dotted with galleries and traditional Korean houses, under the rebranded name Museum Hanmi.
The most notable feature of the newly constructed three-story building is the cold storage space, which has been established as an optimal repository for the museum's collection of more than 20,000 photographic prints and film rolls amassed over the last two decades.
Such a climate-controlled space, the first of its kind built in a Korean art institution, guarantees the preservation of the valuable prints "for the next five centuries," according to the museum.
Part of the cold storage facility has been set up as a visible storage area to allow visitors to witness through anti-reflective glass the historical photographic works that are otherwise too sensitive to be on public display.
The visible storage currently showcases 12 rare vintage prints produced earlier than 1929. These include portraits of King Gojong toward the end of the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom as well as his father Heungseon Daewongun, plus an image of a Korean woman taken by the country's first female photographer, Lee Hong-gyeong, during the early days of the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule of Korea.
The museum has also vowed to expand the focus of its future exhibitions beyond the realm of traditional photography. It will invite relevant works of environmental, site-specific, conceptual and new media art to its galleries that are now equipped with large-scale projection and sound systems.
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| A view of the newly opened Museum Hanmi in central Seoul's Samcheong-dong / Courtesy of Museum Hanmi |
To mark the grand opening, Museum Hanmi presents a special exhibition titled "A History of Korean Photography Inside Out 1929-1982," a critical survey of historical and institutional developments surrounding the country's photography in the 20th century.
The show starts from 1929, the year when Jung Hae-chang (1907-68) held what turned out to be the first-ever photo exhibition in Korea in Seoul's Gwanghwamun Building.
It then follows how the medium was influenced by and led changes throughout the nation's tumultuous modern history marked by liberation from Japan in 1945, the 1950-53 Korean War and rapid industrialization afterward. It ends with the year 1982 when a retrospective of veteran photographer Limb Eung-sik (1912-2001) took place at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Deoksugung.
"Limb's retrospective was more than just a celebration of the exceptional achievement made by one documentarian. It marked the moment when photography began to be recognized as an independent art form," the museum said in a statement, adding that the historic show prompted other photographic works to gradually become subjects of gallery exhibitions and collections.
Over 200 original vintage and digital prints produced by 42 photographers ― by the likes of Hyun Il-yeong, Han Young-soo and Joo Myong-duck ― have been brought to the opening exhibition.
"A History of Korean Photography Inside Out 1929-1982" runs through April 16 at Museum Hanmi.
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| Lim In-sik's "The Korean War ― Student Soldiers without Military Duty" (1950) / Courtesy of Museum Hanmi |
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